lay open

lay open (third-person singular simple present lays open, present participle laying open, simple past and past participle laid open)

1. (patent law, Japan and South Korea) To publish a patent for initial public review, prior to the formal application for registration.
2. (transitive) To expose or reveal (something).

   to lay oneself open to criticism

   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 11, page 207:

     The power of turning into an animal has this serious disadvantage that it lays you open to the chance of being wounded or even slain in your animal skin before you have the chance to put it off and scramble back into your human integument.

3. (transitive) To open (something) through cutting or scissoring.